Priorities at the Solstice

The summer solstice... and this part of the planet, here in mid-Wales, is looking its best.  It is a still, calm day with clear blue skies, and the colours of the trees and the plants are vibrant still.  There is a sense of gratitude - certainly from me for the beauty of the day and this place, but also from nature itself. 

The spring has been perfect for our birds as the gentle weather produced an abundance of food to feed their young, and I have seen it reflected in the numbers of bees, caterpillars, bats, dragonflies and so on that I am seeing all around me. Wildflowers that have never grown in my wildlife garden before have appeared overnight, and it is as if the perfect weather conditions have enabled the world of nature to flourish exactly as it wishes. Even some trees and shrubs that I thought had died in our harsh winter are coming back to life.

So, for me, this solstice is a day of celebration, when I intend to focus on the environment around me, my immediate and much loved community and to ignore as far as possible external events like budgets, oil leaks and sport.  Indeed, my valued wildlife adviser has just called me to arrange to come shortly to discuss the siting of owl boxes.  What could be more important, or enjoyable, than that?